Qin Rongzhi had accompanied Qi Tianyu to Jingxin Monastery.
Initially, she was unwilling to come along but was eventually persuaded by Qi Tianyu’s sweet talking, who promised her a good time in Jingxin Monastery.
She had totally embarrassed herself in the matter concerning Qin Yuru and her. Unpleasant rumors about her were spreading like wildfire and her mother had grounded her so much so that she was not supposed to leave her house, not to mention going to the General’s Mansion.
After hearing Qi Tianyu’s words, promising her that he was able to put a good word for her Mother, Qi Rongzhi finally agreed to accompany Qi Tianyu to Jingxin Monastery.
Qi Rongzhi had totally no interest in matters concerning Buddha worship. Although she was at this moment in a Buddhist Hall, she was merely wondering around. She had no idea where Qi Tianyu had gone. They were separated the moment they arrived at Jingxin Monastery and by this time, Qi Rongzhi was overcome by boredom.
She went around the Buddha Hall and finally came out of it. She did not want to enter it ever again, so she went round to the back hills of Jingxin Monastery.
The back hills in Jingxin Monastery was a scenic place. Almost everyone who visited Jingxin Monastery would go there to enjoy its scenery. Qi Rongzhi was not worried about her elder brother because this was not the first time they visited Jingxin Monastery. One thing she was sure was that he would not leave without her. He probably met someone and started talking. She supposed he would come to look for her later on.
The back hills of Jingxin Monastery extended into some woods and although the area beyond the woods belonged to Jingxin Monastery, it was beyond its boundary.
The pilgrims usually did not go beyond the forest where there were a few private properties. The lady pilgrims who stayed at Jingxin Monastery did not go beyond the woods to the private houses, lest they bump into outsiders.
The trees in the woods were rather dense, but a small cobbled path ran through it. Along the path were a few octagonal pavilions. There were also chrysanthemum flowers blooming at the moment, which added to the color and relaxed feel to the woods.
“Where’s Elder Miss Qin? Funny, didn’t Elder Miss Qin said she was going to look for Miss Shui? We don’t see her anywhere!” a voice broke the silence in the woods，but Qi Rongzhi could not be bothered but continued to walk on. However, she lifted her foot and stopped in her tracks immediately.
“I have no idea where Elder Miss Qin had gone, and I thought I saw First Young Master of the Qi Family. Could Elder Miss Qin have gone to meet him?” another maid said.
“Did you see wrongly?” said the first maid, sounding astonished.
Qi Rongzhi had stopped in her tracks. She looked towards the trees ahead of her where she spotted a bush and some trees. She could vaguely make out that there were two maids dressed in the same clothes as the maids in the General’s Mansion standing there.
It was no wonder that Elder Brother was so keen to bring her here for some quiet time. It was really because Qin Yuru was here. Qi Rongzhi raised her eyebrows as she tried hard to suppress the rising fury in her.
“I couldn’t have seen wrongly. Even if I did, there had to be someone. The young master of the Qis was hiding behind the rockery and Elder Miss Qin was standing right beside the rockery. From where I was standing at that time, I could see that Young Master Qin was wearing a beautiful long robe, which looked like the once Elder Miss Qin made for him. It must be him!”
The other maid whispered.
However, no matter how soft the whisper was, it sounded loud and clear to Qi Rongzhi because of the echos through the hollows between the trees in the woods. This made Qi Rongzhi so furious that her face drained of its colors. She was just suspecting something, but when the maids accurately described how Qi Tianyu was dressed in a white robe, she was certain they were talking about her brother.
Earlier on, after QinYuru and Qi Tianyu were engaged, Qin Yuru indeed made Qi Tianyu a set of clothes. This set of clothes were even delivered through Qi Ronzhi’s hands to Qi Tianyu. It was no wonder her brother was wearing these clothes today. They looked so familiar because they were made and given by Qin Yuru.
After pondering about the cause and effect, Qi Rongzhi now understood everything. Her elder brother wanted to meet Qin Yuru and had made use of her as an escort. Thinking about her animosity with Qin Yuru, Qi Rongzhi began gnashing her feet. She was not going to let Qin Yuru off this time.
Not only did Qin Yuru ruin her reputation and as a result, her marriage arrangement was canceled, but the entire Jiangzhou was also spreading unpleasant rumors about her. Qin Yuru was the culprit who caused all these troubles for her.
Suddenly, she could hear that the two maids were walking towards her. She quickly left the path with her maid to hide behind a big tree. She wanted to gather more news about Qin Yuru by continuing to eavesdrop.
“I know Elder Miss Qin went to meet the First Young Master of the Qi Family, but why did she ask Miss Shui to come out to meet her?”
“Who knows? She must be plotting something against her. This is a quiet and secluded place. If anything happened, Elder Miss Qin could conveniently push the blame to other people. Moreover, she would have evidence to show that she wasn’t present at that time. As long as she could free herself from blame, she doesn’t care what happens to others!”
“Elder Miss Qin is such a… scheming character!”
“That’s so true! How, look at how that intelligent Miss Qi, who eventually also fell into Elder Miss Qin’s snares. Although Elder Miss Qin’s reputation was destroyed, so did Miss Qi’s. Nowadays, Elder Miss Qin and Miss Qi’s names are so notorious in Jiangzhou Prefecture.”
Hearing those words, Qi Rongzhi’s face turned green. She twisted her handkerchief and hand and balled it up. To her, things were blown out of proportion because of Qin Yuru and now her reputation was totally ruined.
She was certain that Qin Yuru was behind all these, what a debased girl!
Without turning away from the tree, her head was literally in contact with the tree bark. Not caring about her image, she made sure she clearly heard Qin Yuru’s plot. How dare Qin Yuru used her brother as her witness. Would she then become a suspect if she hindered him from being a witness?
She was going crazy with rage.
However, while Qi Rongzhi continued to listen on, the two maids had made a turn before they reached the tree where she was hiding and they walked further away while they continued to whisper.
“Let’s go. It’s so quiet here that it’s making me nervous.”
“Alright, let’s go!”…
The two maids continued gossiping as they walked further away.
After the maids left, Qi Rongzhi came out from behind the tree, pulling a long face and staring coldly at the backs of those two maids.
“Miss… let’s go back!” said Chun Xi, her maid, as she tugged Qi Rongzhi’s sleeve gently and looked around nervously.
Having overheard the conversation of the two maids from Ningyuan Army General’s Mansion, she was beginning to be afraid.
“Let’s go!” said Qi Rongzhi coldly as she turned to leave. “In a while, go and follow closely behind Big Brother’s sidekick, and ask him what are the plans for today. Find out from him if Big Brother had asked him to do anything. Threaten to beat him to death if he refuses to tell the truth. If Big Brother tries to side him and protect him, you can threaten to tell on Big Brother regarding him secretly meeting up with Qin Yuru. Let’s see who is able to protect who by then?”
Qi Rongzhi was certain that Qin Yuru was up to something no good, but she would not allow that to happen! On one hand, she was not letting go of her engagement to the son from the powerful family in the capital city, on the other, she was also hanging on to her Big Brother. How could Elder Brother still believe her words? The more Qi Rongzhi thought about it, the more furious she was.
Qin Yuru, you just watch!
Frightened by the malice in Qi Rongzhi’s voice, Chunxi quickly replied to her saying, “Yes, Miss, I’ll go in a while.”
Shui Ruolan did not go straight to Old Madam Qin’s room after coming out from Qin Wanru’s room. Before she let, Old Madam Qin had repeated instructed her to go to worship the Buddha, so she did not need to rush back to her. Compared to the others who came to Jingxin Monastery, Shui Ruolan was about the most pious in worshipping the Buddha.
Qin Wanru and also repeated asked Shui Ruolan to pray to Buddha, believing that Buddha would listen and answer the prayer of the most pious Shui Ruolan. Perhaps Grandma had been recuperating so well because Buddha had been gracious to her.
After listening to what Qin Wanru said, Shui Ruolan pondered for a while and decided that she did not need to rush back to Old Grandma. She headed towards the closest Buddha hall, bringing Qionghua with her.
She had made a vow earlier on, and she wanted to go and fulfill the vow, given that Old Grandma was indeed getting much better.
Shui Ruolan was a very devout Buddhist, so she had been to almost all the Buddha Halls there were in Jingxin Monastery, unlike most pilgrims who would pray and tour the place at the same time. In fact, for many of them, they were more interested in touring Jingxin Monastery than the worship of Buddha itself.
“Aiya!” Shui Ruolan had just stood up from her worship in the Buddha hall and was about to leave when someone hurrying out of the hall bumped into Shui Ruolan. He glared at her for a moment and hurried out. Qionghua wanted to say something to that person because he did not seem to realize that he had bumped into someone.
“Gosh! Why didn’t you apologize when you bumped into someone!” cried Qionghua, pointing towards the person.
Shui Ruolan held on to Qionghua as she steadied herself. She turned to look at the person who bumped into her. She wondered whose sidekick that was, who did not know how to behave.
“Forget it, Qionghua!” said Shui Ruolan, holding on to Qionghua’s hand. Because of the commotion, people started to turn to look in their direction. At this moment, they were at the main hall in Jingxin Monastery, which was also the largest hall of all, so there were many pilgrims there. It was really not a big deal to bump into someone since it was so crowded.
“Miss, it looked like this man had collided into you on purpose!” said Qionghua with her head bowed, and with a mad tone.
“It’s alright, there’s no need to get angry over this kind of people!” said Shui Ruolan shaking her head and smiling. She looked around to see which direction she ought to go, and headed towards another Buddha Hall with Qionghua.
Although Qionghua was still a little frustrated, there were just too many people and it was difficult to find the person who collided into Shui Ruolan. Moreover, she did not even manage to see the person’s face. She could only follow Shui Ruolan and left quietly.
After they left the place, Qi Tianyu’s sidekick appeared on the path leading out of the main Buddha hall. He was fiddling with the fragrant sachet which he pick-pocketed from Miss Shui in his hands. Stealing the fragrant sachet was much easier than stealing earrings or necklaces a person was wearing. After all, earrings and necklaces were in direct contact with a person’s skin.
The First Young Master Qi was unable to let go of his feeling for Elder Miss Qin. His sidekick had the mindset that if he did a favor for Elder Miss Qin, it was as good as doing his young master a favor. He was very happy with himself for being able to run errands for Elder Miss Qin, since his young master was especially concerned about Elder Miss Qin’s feelings. At the same time, his master was a generous man and would surely reward him richly.
The sidekick was so satisfied with himself that he let out a chuckle.
However, in the next moment, the smile of his face froze. The path ahead of him was blocked by his young mistress. Qi Rongzhi was glaring fiercely at him while she stood in the middle of the path and panic filled his heart. He quickly hid the fragrance sachet behind him. Stealing the fragrant sachet had been a task Qi Yuru asked him to do and even Qi Tianyu was not aware of it.
“How dare you not come over to greet your mistress!” said Chunxi, stepping forward from behind Qi Rongzhi.
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